About Melvin Belli

Melvin Belli arguably raised more award ceilings and set more legal precedents than any lawyer in American History. His work in representing victims of personal injury and in raising personal injury awards to then-unprecedented heights earned him the title of "The King of Torts" by Life Magazine. He has also been called the "Father of Demonstrative Evidence" for his pioneering work in illustrating in court the nature of his clients' injuries. His early use of photographs, movies, scale models, human skeletons, animals, prostheses, and other devices was dramatic, riveting and highly effective. High profile clients of Melvin Belli's law firm have included Mae West, Errol Flynn, Tony Curtis, Lenny Bruce, Zsa Zsa Gabor, The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Muhammad Ali, Alex Haley, Nick Nolte, Mickey Cohen and the criminal defense of Jack Ruby, on trial for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy; the shooting of Korean Air Line Flight 0007 by a Soviet jet fighter; torture and beating cases against the late Philippine President, Ferdinand Marcos; MGM Grand Hotel fire in Las Vegas; Union Carbide chemical disaster in Bhopal, India; Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska; defective silicone gel breast implants by Dow Corning and other implant manufacturers; product liability suits against the makers of the dietary supplement L-Tryptophan; and sexual assault and harassment lawsuits against the Tailhook Association, Las Vegas Hilton and the U.S. Navy. 

Belli's performance illustrated his own description of what a good trial lawyer should be: "the ingredients of a trial lawyer are imagination and initiative. You need a feeling for the plaintiff, the desire to do him some good, and to stick with him through thick and thin, the guts to do just that when everyone is criticizing you. And a little law will help." This timeless series of videos in ten volumes captures the essence of Dr. Belli’s legal acumen that has been seen by thousands of lawyers, judges, law students and laymen around the world as the strategies and principles he discusses are more relevant today than ever before.